I think we've all seen those twin baby buggies used by parents of small children. They have two seats side-by-side, and are usually to be found being pushed through town by a weary-looking mother, her life made all the harder by trying to shove this bulky monstrosity through masses of unsympathetic shoppers. The pushing parent gets tired, the tiny tots get bored and start hitting each other with their rattles, and, due to the sheer width of the thing, passers-by end up with barked shins and an angry attitude.

So, in order to keep everyone entertained and happy, here's what I propose: slim the stroller down to the width of a single seat, and have a kind of double-decker arrangement instead. But instead of these two seats being fixed, they're attached to a kind of Ferris wheel-type contraption, so that when you push the buggy forward the babies revolve up and over each other, much to their gurgling delight. The seats themselves are removable and reversible, so the wee tots can be either facing each other (so they can smile and wave at each other as they cycle past), facing outward, or set with one facing in and one facing out if they really don't get on (you can always paint pictures on the back of the seats or stick mirrors on to them for hours of peekaboo-style fun).

Admittedly, this wildly unrealistic idea does have a few technical snags. For instance, what you lose in width you gain in both height and length - this thing might be slim, but it's still going to be pretty big. I'm hoping that the sheer novelty value will make passers-by gasp in awe, and that the teeming crowds will part like the the Red Sea as you proudly perambulate through them. Also, the thing's going to have a very high centre of gravity - not very useful if you're tearing round a corner trying to catch a bus (which the damn thing wouldn't fit on anyway). Still, there's no reason why it couldn't have bike sized wheels at the back, angled slightly inward like the wheels on racing wheelchairs. Big wheels would also help for the gearing system that turns the Ferris wheel as you push. Alternatively, provide some ballast at the base of the buggy - a couple of car batteries might be ideal, as they would also remove the need for any kind of gearing system and just turn the wheel by electrical power alone. And recharge as the hapless mother goes downhill, wearing down the soles of her shoes trying to hold back the weight of this infernal machine.

There are variations, of course. If your kids really don't get on, you could always use the carousel-stroller instead. The babies sit back to back, and revolve horizontally as you push them about. Just don't feed them too many sweeties, as they could end up centrifugally spinning sick all over your shoes.
-- lostdog, Aug 08 2003

ShogunAssassin http://www.horrorvi...shogun_assassin.asp
A cracking film. [friendlyfire, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

One possible vision http://bz.pair.com/fun/strollCoast.html
[~76Kb image] Not sure how the heck you'd get the babies into this model. (Sorry the image file is so big.) [bristolz, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

A variation on the theme ...... http://www.halfbake...eel_20on_20a_20Roll
See the link to "The Grand Panjandrum" ..... [8th of 7, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

If you can figure out how to mount a machine gun or missile launcher on this thing, I'll + you so hard and good...
-- DeathNinja, Aug 08 2003


[DN] - I forget what it's called (my memory being the haphazard, useless bastard that it is) but there's an old Japanese kung-fu flick that features a ninja dad pushing his son about in a booby-trapped bamboo pram (complete with secret shuriken launchers et al) which would be right up your street. Much death. Plenty ninjas. And a pram that's armed to the teeth.

Come to think of it, that might be a bit more useful for cutting a swathe through the hordes of hapless shoppers...
-- lostdog, Aug 08 2003


That sounds right up my alley. I'll have to scour the import section of Hollywood...
-- DeathNinja, Aug 08 2003


sheer magic +1
-- po, Aug 09 2003


[lostdog] I think the film you're thinking of is "Shogun Assassin" - see link.
-- friendlyfire, Aug 09 2003


I'm all over that.
-- DeathNinja, Aug 09 2003


Thanks, [friendlyfire]. It was on the tip of my tongue...
-- lostdog, Aug 09 2003


fogfreak, let's keep the politicians out of this. They already do enough kissing hands and shaking babies...

Cool idea, lostdog. How about another variation - the see-saw stroller? Seat the kiddies facing each other, one in front of the other. While the stroller moves forward, each seat bobs up and down alternately giving the effect of a teeter-totter-like ride. It would be much easier to achieve than passing one seat over and above the other.
-- Canuck, Aug 10 2003


One baby-puke covered croissant.

Now we need a Ferris Wheelchair for the young at heart.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 10 2003


Ooops. I forgot to hook up something to transmit the spinny power to the carousel.  Rats.
-- bristolz, Aug 10 2003


bris, excellent illustration! But stop apologizing for your big file. A big file is a good thing to have. Be proud.
For loading the kiddies into their seats, we could use trained monkeys wearing tiny usher outfits. I hear they work for peanuts.
As for the power transfer, it looks to me kind of like your yellow wheel thingy is resting on the green axle thingy (sorry for all the technical terminology) that runs between the rear wheels, which would make the yellow wheel spin backwardly whilst the contraption is moving forward.
And where exactly are the rats supposed to go?
-- Canuck, Aug 11 2003


<panic> the kids fell out on the way home
-- po, Aug 11 2003


Fell, or were tossed upwards like mexican jumping beans? That'll teach you for pulling it behind your 18-speed.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 11 2003


Beautiful. This I gotta make. Maybe in a year or two, when things settle down a bit, and I don't have both kids in diapers.
-- oxen crossing, Aug 11 2003


"Please keep rattles inside the vehicle at all times. Thank you."
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 11 2003


Remember those bikes with the enormous front wheel and the tiny back wheel? I just had a vision of the front wheel adapted into kind of a hamster wheel, the baby seat with small wheels of its own, rolling around near the bottom as the tire whirled over and under it. Mom or Dad pedalling madly through town.
-- k_sra, Aug 13 2003


The sort of excellent idea the random button such fun
-- j paul, Jun 03 2011



random, halfbakery